Sociology of Education, referred to as SOCL 320, satisfied the behavior and social perspective and the Cormier Honors College requirements. This course examines the structure and process of the education system within the United States. Students explore concepts within this course, such as why we have schools, the research and theories associated with education, and the different components within a school, including funding, teachers, the curriculum, and more.
Sociology of Education is one of my favorite courses I have taken so far during my education career at Longwood. I found this course interesting because I learned the components and theories behind the education system. It was an eye-opening experience because I realized that there was more to education than just teaching and learning. I enjoyed doing the How Do I Live activity and the final exam. The How Do I Lived assignment made me realize how my life as a teacher and how a month’s salary sustain my lifestyle. In addition to this assignment, I liked the final exam because it took what I learned in the classroom to create my own school. It was good application activity because it deepens my understanding of the concepts I have been learning all semester, applying it in a hypothetical situation, and understanding that there is a lot that goes into a school.
The artifact that I have selected to exhibit the work I have done in this course is my honors enhancement research project. For this project, I worked with other Honors students to answer what makes a good teacher based on a parent, a teacher, and an administrator’s perspectives. Being a prospective teacher, it was beneficial to hear what these individuals think a good teacher is and the reasoning behind their responses. At the start of this project, my peers and I listed out the qualities we thought made a good teacher and use research articles to support our list. Then, we develop questions to ask our selected parent, teacher, and administrator about what makes a good teacher. Following our interview with these individuals, we reviewed each other’s interview transcripts and identified the common themes and focused our paper on those themes. It was good to collaborate with my peers on this research project because I got to hear their thoughts about teachers and their experience when interviewing their selected individuals and working with them to share our findings with others. I have included the research paper below: